Hosea 14
Summary
Israel must return to the Almighty and be reconciled with HIM. There is no other choice. The Return of the Lost Ten Tribes is symbolized by the Brit-Am Rose, official symbol of Brit-Am.
The Book of Hosea
Chapter Fourteen
A Brit-Am
Biblical Commentary
[Hosea 14:1] O ISRAEL, RETURN UNTO THE LORD THY GOD; FOR THOU HAST
FALLEN BY THINE INIQUITY.
This is the final chapter of the Book of Hosea. Yehudah Kiel ("Daat Mikra") points out that Hosea concludes his message with a summarization
of Exhortations found in the Bible. Israel is not of this world. Israel is separate from other nations. Israel has been blessed exceedingly and may be punished proportionately so.
Israel should take this to heart. The Almighty does not want to hurt us. Let us return to God and once again HE will guid us and be with us and bless us.
[Hosea 14:2] TAKE WITH YOU WORDS, AND TURN TO THE LORD: SAY UNTO HIM, TAKE AWAY
ALL INIQUITY, AND RECEIVE US GRACIOUSLY: SO WILL WE RENDER THE CALVES OF OUR
LIPS.
Our forefathers offered sacrifices such as fattened calves. Once the Temple was built sacrifices were forbidden to Israelites outside of the Temple site.
Today we have no Temple and cannot make sacrifices. The whole purpose of the sacrifice however was to arouse us to repentance and to draw us close to the Almighty.
The word for sacrfice in Hebrew is "korban" from the root KRB which connotes "to bring closer".
The Prophet tells us that instead of a physical sacrifice we may make a physical and emotional effort to pray to God with our lips and offer ourselves to HIM. This will be considered as if we had offered up fat calves.
When you think about it sacrificial animals were quite expensive and would have required quite a degree of physical exertion and active public participation. All this combined with the Temple atmosphere could have had a powerful spiritual and psychological effect.
[Hosea 14:3] ASSHUR SHALL NOT SAVE US; WE WILL NOT RIDE UPON HORSES: NEITHER
WILL WE SAY ANY MORE TO THE WORK OF OUR HANDS, YE ARE OUR GODS: FOR IN THEE THE
FATHERLESS FINDETH MERCY.
"Asshur
[i.e. Assyria = Germany or United Europe] shall not save us"
[Hosea 14:4] I WILL HEAL THEIR BACKSLIDING, I WILL LOVE THEM FREELY: FOR MINE
ANGER IS TURNED AWAY FROM HIM.
[Hosea 14:5] I WILL BE AS THE DEW UNTO ISRAEL: HE SHALL GROW AS THE LILY, AND
CAST FORTH HIS ROOTS AS LEBANON.
"lily" is "shoshana"
actually meaning the rose which (as a rosette) was a symbol of royalty in
ancient Israel (and in other nations: there was an article in Biblical
Archaeological Review on this) and the Tudor Rose of England is described in the
Zohar
as the mark of Israel.
The organization "Brit-Am" that identifies peoples from Western Europe as the Lost Tern tribes and works for their reconciliation with Judah has adopted
an adaptation of the Tudor Rose as its official symbol.
[Hosea 14:6] HIS BRANCHES SHALL SPREAD, AND HIS BEAUTY SHALL BE AS THE OLIVE
TREE, AND HIS SMELL AS LEBANON.
"Lebanon" was actually mainly part of
the territory of ancient Israel. The isle of Britain was known as Alba or Albion
though later the term Alba was confined to Scotland. These names are forms of
the word for Lebanon.
[Hosea 14:7] THEY THAT DWELL UNDER HIS SHADOW SHALL RETURN; THEY SHALL REVIVE AS
THE CORN, AND GROW AS THE VINE: THE SCENT THEREOF SHALL BE AS THE WINE OF
LEBANON.
[Hosea 14:8] EPHRAIM SHALL SAY, WHAT HAVE I TO DO ANY MORE WITH IDOLS? I HAVE
HEARD HIM, AND OBSERVED HIM: I AM LIKE A GREEN FIR TREE. FROM ME IS THY FRUIT
FOUND.
[Hosea 14:9] WHO IS WISE, AND HE SHALL UNDERSTAND THESE THINGS? PRUDENT, AND HE
SHALL KNOW THEM? FOR THE WAYS OF THE LORD ARE RIGHT, AND THE JUST SHALL WALK IN
THEM: BUT THE TRANSGRESSORS SHALL FALL THEREIN.
That is the end of the Book of Hosea. We
have scratched the surface and have seen that at least on a tentative level
quite a few of the prophecies have a direct bearing to our identifications of
the Lost Tribes.
Our method has been to try and cover as much ground as possible in a short time and
thus impart an overall impression. At the same time here and there we have delved a little in deeper aspects.
Hosia:
A Few Highlights of Hosea.
Three sons of
Gomer
(i.e. Cimmerians) represent three sections of the exiled 10 tribes who will link up with European Nations.
They do not represent Judah who is separately spoken of (1:7).
Much of Hosea is directed expressly to the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel.
The Lost Tribes of Israel will be rejected, then accepted (1:10)
(Yebamot
17), (2:23). They will be extremely numerous (1:10).
They will have worshipped the baal
(2:8, 2:13).
Righteousness, judgment,
lovingkindness, and mercy are required of us (2:19).
The Lost Ten Tribes must Return to God, to Jerusalem [reconciliation with Judah], and to the Kingdom of David (3:5).
Ephraim represents all of the northern
Lost Ten Tribes of Israel as well as the specific tribe of Ephraim.
Ephraim will have brough forth "strange children"(5:7).
Gilead and Schechem (representing the USA) were known for their murderers and violence (6:2).
Judah will be preparing the foundations of the Land for all the Tribes to Return (Hosea 6:11).
The Exiles will return from the West (11:10).
Judah will have remained faithful (11:14).
Ephraim is described as a cheating merchant (12:7). cf. Terms applied to Britain, "Nation of shopkeepers", "Perfidious Albion".
Ephraim is to the west (mostly) from the Land of Israel (11:10).
Ephraim is rich.
Ephraim is a merchant (12:7).
Ephraim mistakenly puts his trust in Assyria and other "lovers".
Association with Machmad (i.e. Islam)
(Mohamot)
augurs not well for Ephraim and is liable to bring disaster due to Muslim terrorists (9:1).
The overall message of Hosea is rejection of Ephraim by the Almighty followed by a reconciliations.
This applies to all the Lost Ten Tribes and also to Judah.
Israel will return unto God and be
blessed once again
(chapter 14).
Chapter Thirteen
